Thank you for your continued interest in and support of FINAL FANTASY XIV.

While more than two months have passed since the official launch of FINAL FANTASY XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies.

After thorough deliberation on how to meet those expectations, it was decided that the most viable step was to approach improvements under new leadership and with a restructured team.

To realize this vision, and in doing so, provide our customers with a better game experience, we have assembled our companyís top talent and resources. Taking over the role of producer and director is Naoki Yoshida, a passionate individual for whom customer satisfaction has always taken top priority. Not only is he one of our Groupís most accomplished and experienced members, Naoki Yoshida is also a charismatic leader possessing the skill to bring together and effectively helm a team which encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. We also welcome several new leaders handpicked from other projects to work with the existing talent on FINAL FANTASY XIV.

We realize time is of the essence and are fully determined to provide our customers with quality service. It is because of this that we ask our customers to be patient until we are able to confidently present them with a concrete plan outlining FINAL FANTASY XIVís new direction. The free trial period will be extended until that time.

Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned. For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011.

The FINAL FANTASY XIV team is working hard to bring our customers an unparalleled adventure, and we ask for your continued understanding and support as we march ever diligently towards that goal.

First of all, I would like to apologize for our inability to fully satisfy our users with the initial release of FINAL FANTASY XIV. I take full responsibility for the gameís current situation, and have therefore made the decision to step down from my role as producer. A number of concerns that have been voiced by users, such as the design of the user interface, availability of tutorials and game content, and battle system functionality, represent key issues that must be addressed. While improvements are already well underway in many areas, we were unfortunately not able to incorporate player feedback as quickly as we would have liked. We are aware, however, that in many cases, addressing these issues will call for a reworking of game elements. As these changes are our first priority, they will be commanding our full attention and efforts. It is to that end that we have put a new organizational structure into place for the development team. Under this new system, FINAL FANTASY XIV will see changes and additions in line with the desires and expectations of players. Though no longer producer, I will be continuing to support the development team in other capacities, and personally hope that you will continue your adventures in the realm of Eorzea.

It's an MMO. Why have an extended Beta when you can get people to pay you and fix it along the way?

I'm wondering if they have some kind of extra pressure going on here. They really could be setting this game up for failure, although I guess we'll see.

Why do that when you can have the worst of both worlds?

It is kinda surprising. I guess they panicked. I wonder if they even realize how much this kind of thing hurts their brand as well. I tried to think of a really good game they've made and it's been since ps1 imo. That has to catch up with them sometime.

I tried to think of a really good game they've made and it's been since ps1 imo. That has to catch up with them sometime.

It's funny you should say this, because I was talking to a friend about it recently and we basically felt the same way. The quality of SE's games in general just seems to have dropped significantly over the years, and I no longer really see them as someone I trust to release a really quality experience.

It's just too bad._________________"The problem with quotes on the Internet is the validity of them." -Abraham Lincoln

I tried to think of a really good game they've made and it's been since ps1 imo. That has to catch up with them sometime.

It's funny you should say this, because I was talking to a friend about it recently and we basically felt the same way. The quality of SE's games in general just seems to have dropped significantly over the years, and I no longer really see them as someone I trust to release a really quality experience.

It's just too bad.

You don't consider FFXI a great game?

I also really liked FFXII even though it seems a lot of people didn't. But other than those, I have to agree. XIII wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. I've stayed away from most of their other offline games after seeing mediocre reviews. I still want to try Nier eventually however.

I really, really enjoyed FFXI, XII, and XIII. But other than those, I feel that the quality's not there. I still look forward to FF franchise games, but SE's name is slapped onto so many other titles now, you have to pay attention to the actual developer team because SE is just such a big producer with so many sub-teams now._________________"The problem with quotes on the Internet is the validity of them." -Abraham Lincoln

I agree. When I play or research most SE games these days I can see "bottom line profit" stamped all over their games. Obviously, this is the number one goal for game developers, but it shouldn't be so transparent. All these quick handheld games, quick and easy remakes of previous games or admitting to leaving out key portions of games (XIII towns, etc) because they simply cost too much to implement makes it seem like they don't care as much.

When I play modern western RPGs such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age or Fallout 3 I really feel like the game is something the developers wanted to make. SE games feel like implemented the minimum amount of detail to make a profit. It definitely did not use to be like that.

On top of that, they really need to start listening to their fan base. In the MMOs (especially XIV) they do not have a history of taking fan's concerns seriously, thinking their developers better than suggestions of their fans. They claim that a remake of VII would be too difficult (too expensive), yet will throw out multiple cheaply made poor sequels to that and other FF games that just tarnish the originals. The movie that almost bankrupted them was because they made a story that did not cater to FF fans at all.

They have stated they have no plans to make a new Chrono Trigger regardless how many times fans ask because the fans proved there is not enough demand for one judging by the sales of the re-release of a 15 year old Super NES game on the DS with pretty much NO improvments or new features over the original.

Yea, we can all talk about which ones we like and we'll come up with different answers. (My obligatory response)
FFXI and FFXII were decent imo. They were executed well enough but weren't "great".

Vawn partially hit on it I think. They are just trying to make money. That's fine everyone does that but they just don't take any risks anymore because of it. Loads of cookie cutter type characters and boring plots were your characters don't undergo any struggle. I guess you could say they did take a risk by taking out auction houses in XIV but that wasn't really what I mean.

Also the last 2 big games they came out with felt like unfinished products. Bad developers seem to do that alot. Just spit out games at a deadline even if they're terrible._________________I for one welcome our Parasitic overlords!

We all know the story being Final Fantasy being named as such as it was suppose to be the last game made by Square. The company was expecting to go under, but they wanted to make this game. It wasn't even really seen as "hopefully this can save us" project, more like, we just want to make this game before we're done. And the game was a success because of it.

The most dangerous thing SE can do is to continue to play it safe. A close second would be to stay so out of touch with what their fan base wants from their games.

When you compare them to a company like Blizzard, it's a little sad. In general I'm not a huge fan of Blizzard's games due to the mass market design of how I feel the gameplay is made. That being said, they really refuse to release a shitty product, and they don't do a lot of "grab for cash" spinoffs.

SE is disappointing because I really love what they do when they put their heart in to it, but they seem to often times be content with mediocrity. Every entry in the "Secret of" series that I've played other than Secret of Mana sucked, as did the couple of "SaGa" games I played.